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Re: Philip Seymour Hoffman Is Dead

As someone who is an addict it's definitely a terrible disease. And like said above, it definitely doesn't discriminate and it will take control of anyone who gives it a chance. I really feel for Phillip, so sad. I couldn't imagine having all the money he has and being an addict. Would be so easy to get out of control and so hard to quit.

Thankfully I was only addicted to hard painkillers and not heroin, but still pretty much the same thing. Luckily I'm two years clean from everything though and take it one day at a time.

I definitely agree it's a social and depression problem though. I moved around way too much during my youth and didn't have too many friends and social anxiety which led me to doing drugs to combat the depression. If only this country quit treating addicts as criminals and more as patients maybe we wouldn't have as big of a problem with drugs as we do now. It's only getting worse too. They are making a lot of the stronger opiate pills abuse proof which is making the prices rise on the ones that aren't abuse proof and it's making people jump to heroin and then to the needle.

Re: Philip Seymour Hoffman Is Dead

You guys realize he was clean for 23 years, then relapsed mid-year 2013, did a short stint in rehab and supposedly was clean until just now. I'd speculate loss of tolerance was the main issue here.

Just goes to show you what addiction is...a relapse after 23 years. That's mind-blowing and terrifying all in the same.

Yeah once your an addict your always an addict. You really have to take it one day at a time. I know plenty of people that had ten years clean or 20 even and relapse. It's because opiates are so good at blocking out emotions...so if your clean that long and something happens in your life that causes lots of stress/anxiety/depression it's hard not to lean back on the opiates as crutch. It's literally like pressing a button and all of your problems go away for that very instant. It's very hard to stay away from. Getting clean is the hardest thing I've ever had to do. And staying clean is even harder.

Re: Philip Seymour Hoffman Is Dead

Seems like it had been going on for a while.

A haggard Philip Seymour Hoffman knew he was trapped in a downward spiral, readily admitting, “I’m a heroin addict,’’ to a stranger two weeks ago.

The Oscar-winning actor made the bizarre admission to magazine publisher John Arundel at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, after the businessman didn’t immediately recognize him and asked what he did for a living.

“He said, ‘I’m a heroin addict,’ ” the Washington Life Magazine associate publisher recalled for The Post on Monday.

Arundel said Hoffman then took off his “sloppy hat” and the publisher realized his mistake and said, “Oh, you’re Philip Seymour Hoffman.”

“Bingo!” the actor replied, according to Arundel.

Before Hoffman walked away, Arundel recalled, the “Capote’’ actor added, “I just got out of rehab.”

“Obviously, he wanted people to know he was in recovery mode,’’ Arundel said.

Or at least think he was. In reality, Hoffman — who had struggled with drug and alcohol addiction since his early 20s — was in the middle of a relapse that claimed his life at age 46 on Sunday.

His addiction had gotten so bad that Hoffman’s girlfriend of 14 years, costume designer Mimi O’Donnell, had kicked him out of the Jane Street pad in Greenwich Village where they lived with their three young kids, pals said.

“It was known that he was struggling to stay sober, and his wife had given him some tough love and told him he needed some time away from the kids and to get straight again,’’ a Hollywood source told The Post.

The screen and stage star began renting a $9,800-a-month pad on Bethune Street, less than three blocks away, around three months ago, neighbors said.

...

Cops recovered more than 20 empty heroin envelopes from the apartment, a plastic cup with 20 used syringes in it, at least 50 more envelopes of heroin and bags of fresh needles, sources said. A charred spoon was found in the sink.

Samples taken from Hoffman’s West Village apartment didn’t contain the potent synthetic morphine, which is added to intensify the high and has been linked to 22 suspected overdose deaths in western Pennsylvania, said the official, who wasn’t authorized to talk about the evidence and insisted on anonymity.

Tests have confirmed there was heroin in at least some of the 70 glassine bags found in Hoffman’s home, a law enforcement officials told WCBS 880′s Irene Cornell.

The envelopes were stamped “Ace of Spades” and “Ace of Hearts,” both brands that are known to sometimes be mixed with fentanyl.

New York City Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan said heroin deaths are on the rise in the five boroughs and that users often don’t know what exactly is mixed in the drugs they are buying.
“In New York City, the health department reported that the deaths due to heroin overdoses was up about 71 percent, according to the last statistics I had seen,” New York City Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan said.

Stamps are common as a form of drug-world branding, and authorities make note of the ones they encounter, though they’re hardly trademarks — different producers might use the same symbol. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the “Ace of Hearts” and “Ace of Spades” stamps could lead investigators to any clues about the source of the items found in Hoffman’s apartment.

Sources told 1010 WINS’ Juliet Papa that in addition to the heroin, investigators also found what’s believed to be cocaine and methamphetamines in Hoffman’s home. The “Capote” star also had other medications in the apartment, including medicine for blood pressure.

Medical examiners have not made an official determination of the cause of the 46-year-old actor’s death, but police have been investigating it as a suspected overdose.

What if someone from a school of business or management school were to ask, How did you do this? How did you get the Pacers turned around? Is there a general approach you've taken that can be summarized?

Re: Philip Seymour Hoffman Is Dead

Being mentally tough can determine how successfully you battle addiction, as well as whether or not you place yourself in a position to become an addict in the first place.

For me, I've always been too intelligent to resort to recreational drugs, but if I ever did go full-blown idiot and become an addict, it wouldn't last for long.

I'm sorry there are those of you who feel it's wrong to be proud to live a clean, healthy lifestyle. I'll keep you in my thoughts.

There's nothing wrong about that but there is something wrong about thinking that the mind will be the same when someone does resort to using recreational drugs. Every time one uses brain chemistry becomes altered so mental toughness goes out the window.

Re: Philip Seymour Hoffman Is Dead

New York police have arrested four people suspected of having a connection to drugs found in Philip Seymour Hoffman's apartment, two days after the actor was found dead of an apparent drug overdose.

According to multiple reports, on Tuesday night law-enforcement officials busted four people believed to have supplied the heroin that killed the 46-year-old actor.

The New York Post reports that police arrested Robert Vineberg, 57, Thomas Kushman, 48, and charged them with felony drug possession. Max Rosenblum and Juliana Luchkiw, both 22, also were arrested and charged with misdemeanor drug possession.

Vineberg, a musician who goes by the name Robert Aaron and has accompanied Wyclef Jean and Tom Jones, replied with a sheepish "No, I did not," when asked if he had sold Hoffman heroin, according to the Post.

The four were reportedly arrested in a Chinatown apartment on Mott Street, according to the Daily News, after police received a tip that the drugs found in Hoffman's apartment came from the Chinatown building. Police reportedly found 350 glassine envelopes containing a substance believed to be heroin.

On Sunday shortly after 11:30 a.m., Hoffman's body was found lying on the bathroom floor of his New York City apartment, the victim of an apparent drug overdose. A police source confirmed to PEOPLE that Hoffman had a syringe in his arm and that two clear envelopes of what appeared to be heroin were found nearby. Eight empty envelopes also were discovered in the apartment.

A private funeral service for the actor is scheduled to take place Sunday in New York City, and plans are underway for a memorial service, also in New York, later this month.

Re: Philip Seymour Hoffman Is Dead

Being mentally tough can determine how successfully you battle addiction, as well as whether or not you place yourself in a position to become an addict in the first place.

For me, I've always been too intelligent to resort to recreational drugs, but if I ever did go full-blown idiot and become an addict, it wouldn't last for long.

I'm sorry there are those of you who feel it's wrong to be proud to live a clean, healthy lifestyle. I'll keep you in my thoughts.

This statement is, in my opinion, one of the most ridiculous things one can state about drug use, drug abuse, and addiction. In fact, if I were a mod or an admin, I would remove this posting. It is callous, contemptuous, and simply naive.

Re: Philip Seymour Hoffman Is Dead

This statement is, in my opinion, one of the most ridiculous things one can state about drug use, drug abuse, and addiction. In fact, if I were a mod or an admin, I would remove this posting. It is callous, contemptuous, and simply naive.

It just proves that he has never dealt with anything like that personally or helped someone through it...

* Most Humorous Poster Nominee (2004, 2005, 2010)*Off Topic Post of the Year Winner (2009)*Off Topic Thread of the Year Nominee (2010)

Re: Philip Seymour Hoffman Is Dead

Rambling, man. Rambling and avoiding the reality. The fact that Philip Seymour Hoffman died of a heroin overdose yesterday. The sadness of drug addiction taking lives, the struggle of the drug addict to stay off the ****, to not get locked back into the groove where choices diminish, where reason no longer applies, where the will is compromised and tethered to a malignant desire. Horrendous. It’s a horrendous loss. It’s a horrendous loss when anybody dies tragically, in almost any way. Why not just say any way? But when you know somebody who’s been fighting, I guess what at one time was a — no, let’s say at all times — a good fight against that particular bug, having experienced that bug, having lived with that bug for all of my life, having somehow kept it at bay through various methods, I understand it. I understand that. Once you surrender your will to getting high, all bets are off. You don’t know what the **** is gonna happen.

And this guy was a talented guy. He was one of the greatest actors who ever lived. And he had this horrible struggle. And there’s nothing more bothersome, more horrible, than people going, “Eh, he made a choice.” Yeah, he made a choice, but I don’t [think he had] much control, if any, over that choice. His heart and mind were being given instruction by a ****ing demon. It’s probably one of the closest — metaphorically, if not literally — it is the closest I have ever seen to demonic possession. Active drug addiction. It’s nothing to be trivialized. It’s nothing to be dismissed as some sort of bad life choice. I really think that that kind of conversation about drugs needs to be eliminated from the culture.

It’s one thing to try to stop drugs; that seems futile. But try to raise awareness and get people treatment so they at least have a shot. And Philip Seymour Hoffman had had some periods of sobriety. But something switched off. Something didn’t stick. Something was not there when he needed it to be there in terms of the support necessary to stop him from reentering the dragon. From opening his soul to the demon. And now he’s gone. We lost him. We lost him to that, we lost him to that ****ed-up disease. ****ed-up drug.

You know, I’ve seen a lot of people go down because of this, people in my business, people I’ve known. Some people come back. Heroin’s a tough monkey to kick, man. Seems to be the hardest, really, to reenter life after being strung out on dope. It sets the bar of your brain chemicals so high and so low simultaneously that you can never recapture that. Once you have that blast, once you feel that nod, a lot of things pale in comparison, and the deep hunger in the reptile brain for that feeling is a tough thing to stifle. I know cats that have quit dope and kind of moved through methadone and then became sort of managing alcoholics, drinkers, to sort of give that demon a taste. And a lot of them didn’t go back to dope. A few guys I know that ended up sort of putting that at bay and nursing a drink every once in a while to take the edge off. They’ve done alright. I’m not saying abstinence is for everybody. As Jim Caroll said about Kurt Cobain, he should’ve negotiated with the monkey. It’s hard to negotiate with the monkey. Sometimes you got to cut that ****ing monkey off.

You know last week, on Thursday, we ran an interview with Marc Spitz, who also battled with heroin, but who at this juncture has not lost, and is out of its grips. Not sober, per se, but out of the grips of that mother****er. Heroin’s a *****. Drug addiction is horrible. It’s a mental illness. It’s a real disease, and Philip Seymour Hoffman is dead, and it’s sad. It’s sad. Because — just know that there is help available. And this may be a little serious, I understand, maybe I’ll get to something funny in a minute. But there is help available, there is help on the way, there’s always help available if you look for it. The hardest thing about it is once you get into that mind, once you are in demon mind, your decision-making capacity, or your will to say or know that you’re in trouble, becomes somewhat compromised. You know, “I’ll kick tomorrow.” Yeah.

Re: Philip Seymour Hoffman Is Dead

Being mentally tough can determine how successfully you battle addiction, as well as whether or not you place yourself in a position to become an addict in the first place.

For me, I've always been too intelligent to resort to recreational drugs, but if I ever did go full-blown idiot and become an addict, it wouldn't last for long.

I'm sorry there are those of you who feel it's wrong to be proud to live a clean, healthy lifestyle. I'll keep you in my thoughts.

This is pretty ridiculous man. I mean congrats on being smart enough to stay away from recreational drug use in the first place. I'm glad that you've had a good enough childhood/life that trying out drugs didnt appeal to you. But some people definitely don't have it that easy. And it definitely doesn't have **** to do with intelligence in the most part. Some people can't help it if they were raped, mentally abused, had horrible childhoods, bullied all their life, etc. Yeah some ppl that turn to drugs haven't gone thru anything bad at all, but IME most addicts have some sort of trauma or bad experience their trying to block out thru drugs.

And as for you saying if you ever were an addict you would be smart enough to cut it out and get off them? It's definitely not that easy. I mean you might think its as simple as just saying hey I'm done today, but your totally ****ing wrong. It's not like addicts don't know that they are ruining their lives. They know it and they want to quit every single day but it's just so difficult. You can't ever comment otherwise until you've been thru drug withdrawal. Until then you have no idea what the **** your talking about. And like I said, getting clean is the easy part. Staying clean for any length of time is the hard part. I definitely don't wish this disease on you though despite your idiotic comments. I don't wish it upon my worst enemy. And I definitely hope that you don't have to deal with someone very close to you becoming an addict, because you would be ****ing lost.

Re: Philip Seymour Hoffman Is Dead

Fact or Fiction: Mentally strong people are more in control of their thoughts and behaviors than are mentally weak people?

If you say fact, then you're in agreement with me. If you say fiction, then I think this discussion is a lost cause and so I'll politely excuse myself from it.

No, if you agree with the first statement you're not in agreement with your previous statement. If Person A is mentally stronger, and more in control of their thoughts/behaviors than Person B, it doesn't automatically mean Person B is mentally weak.

What if someone from a school of business or management school were to ask, How did you do this? How did you get the Pacers turned around? Is there a general approach you've taken that can be summarized?

Re: Philip Seymour Hoffman Is Dead

Relapsing opioid addicts are especially prone to overdose, because when they were heavy users they developed tolerance, so they needed bigger and bigger doses to get as high over time. Maybe after years of use, they ended up taking 10X the dose that they started taking at first, for example.

Then if they succeed in being sober for years, their brain chemistry somewhat normalizes, at least in terms of potential for biological response to the opioid.

But then if they relapse and try that 10X dose that they were using before they sobered up, the newly remodeled brain can't handle it and it's over.

The poster "pacertom" since this forum began (and before!). I changed my name here to "Slick Pinkham" in honor of the imaginary player That Bobby "Slick" Leonard picked late in the 1971 ABA draft (true story!)

Re: Philip Seymour Hoffman Is Dead

The poster "pacertom" since this forum began (and before!). I changed my name here to "Slick Pinkham" in honor of the imaginary player That Bobby "Slick" Leonard picked late in the 1971 ABA draft (true story!)